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Tekken 7 has been a long time coming. After releasing the game in
arcades two years ago, Bandai Namco has been building up to the home version
since, adding new characters and improving polish and balance. The final
product is a strong contender, offering a mostly smooth online experience, gorgeous
visuals, and clever twists on a combat system that flips between methodical and
frantic in a heartbeat. But in other ways, Tekken 7 feels like a missed opportunity
and (ironically) a rush job.

Tekken’s core fighting system is as lively as
ever, emphasizing ducking or dodging your opponents’ attacks instead of waiting
for the right move to block. This puts a high emphasis on proper spacing,
especially since moving in three dimensions can often get your opponent to whiff
a move. Moving quickly around the arena requires some getting used to (be ready
to dash often), and with the number of attacks any one character can perform,
pinpoint button accuracy is key. This makes Tekken 7 a tough game to learn, but
every victory feels immensely rewarding as a result. Combos are important, but the juggle
system is loose enough that if you recognize your chance to deal more damage,
you can usually add a few moves to your combo, even if they’re not the most
optimal ones.

Tekken 7’s changes to this formula make fights more fun. The
camera occasionally zooms in and slows down the action when two moves are about to collide, making for suspenseful moments as you wait to see
if you won the exchange. Power Crush moves absorb multiple high or mid attacks,
but are weak to throws or lows, which makes them as situational as they are
powerful. The Rage system, which previously only enhanced the amount of damage
characters deal when they were low on health, now has two additional uses: The
Rage Art acts as a super move, while the Rage Drive is more of a combo starter
with some invincibility. Both deplete your Rage, so using either presents a fun
risk/reward that adds a fun layer to combat when it’s at its most tense.

Despite this array of new tricks, Tekken 7 does a poor job
of introducing them. The story mode tells you which buttons are punches and
which are kicks, but only provides combos that don’t work elsewhere and doesn’t
delve into wall combos, how different attacks interact, or what Rage or Rage
Drives do beyond mentioning you can use them. This means new players should expect
to spend their first few hours poring over move lists in training mode or
online just to see what characters are capable of. This wouldn’t be such a
problem if characters didn’t have an enormous amount of moves (some start to close in on 200) to sift through. You won’t find a fun, comprehensive learning
course like Tekken Tag Tournament 2’s Fight Lab here.

Curious fighting game players making the jump
from 2D to 3D may find a comfortable pick in Akuma, who crosses over from Street
Fighter. Akuma retains most of his moves from his home series, including a few staple combos. His Gohadokens aren’t as effective against fighters who
can move in three dimensions, but if you’re familiar with other fighting games
and want to learn Tekken, he should be your go-to early on, though it will
still take a bit to learn the ins and outs of fighting regular Tekken
characters.

Stick with the steep learning curve and Tekken 7 gives you reasons
to keep playing. A new Treasure Battle mode lets you unlock dozens of fun items
to dress characters up in, including pieces of new outfits, knives, and
inflatable heads. Customizing my King to wear a pizza on his back and have a
fish floating around his head was a fun incentive to keep playing, even if
Treasure Battle is little more than a series of fights against easily exploited
computer opponents.

Tekken is also known for its zany storyline and absurd
characters, but Tekken 7’s is hit-or-miss. Heihachi and Kazuya Mishima have
thrown each other off cliffs for years, and Tekken 7’s three-hour story mode
highlights their long-running feud. The focus on their rivalry leads to some
interesting revelations about all the cliff-throwing, but the plot moves too
quickly to let any moment linger, making the entire story feel rushed. A
character is nearly beaten to death in one scene, only to immediately recover
and plan a new strategy in the next. The plot also foreshadows a few developments
without following through on them, which left me unsatisfied once the story was
over. Akuma, who makes an imposing mark on
the Tekken universe without feeling too out of place, steals the show.

Tekken is as well known for its outlandish
one-off stories as it is its overarching plot, but these stories, too, feel
truncated. Rather than place them at the end of the arcade mode, they’re
slapped onto the story mode as “character stories,” which consist of a text
intro, a single two-round fight, and a short cutscene. Some of the
confrontations between new characters like Lucky Chloe and veterans like Eddy
Gordo lead to some fun moments, but they aren’t as fun or interesting as in
previous entries.

Tekken In VR

Tekken 7 includes two PlayStation VR-compatible modes, but neither is worthwhile. The VR model viewer lets you view your custom characters in VR, but it all takes place on a virtual screen rather than in a full 360-degree environment, which takes away from the novelty. You can also battle a computer opponent on an empty, moonlight lake surface and move the camera angle around with the left analog stick. These modes don’t add much to the experience and you can safely ignore them.

Online, you can expect the standard ranked, player, and
lobby modes, as well as a tournament system that works fairly well provided
you have the patience to wait for four to eight players to join a lobby. The online
has worked fine in my experience, though fights with international players have
been spotty. You can tinker around in training mode with a pre-selected
character between matches, which prevents counterpicking before the fight. The
ranking system emphasizes progression over points (you can get promoted to the
next rank even if you lose a match), which eases some of the pressure of playing
for keeps. The big omission is replays, which means you can’t improve by
watching your own matches, or learn from higher-level players.

Tekken 7 does a good job of bringing the franchise up to
standard on the current round of consoles. Though it falters in its story mode
and getting new players in on the satisfying thrill of dodging your opponent’s
attack and hitting them with a round-ending combo, it offers enough incentive
for experienced players (or those willing to stick out the initial rough patch)
to keep playing. The online works well enough that regular players should have enough of a reason to learn the deep combat system and get ready for the next
battle.

Suriel plays a lot of Dota and fighting games and likes to watch other people play them. He's more or less made a career out of doing both for the past few years. He likes other games, too, though. Promise.